Chapter Twenty-Two: The Thing about the ‘Emotionless’
1585 Words
“Well then…” Trident began, “There goes your lovers head.”
“Lover?” Virginia sneered at her brother's words then tapped the cool dark liquid in her glass.
They were at the bar in the train lounge, and they, like most rooms in the train, had the Crystal vision turned to the broadcast.
“Oh, come on, you cannot tell me you feel nothing after seeing all this?” he pointed to the screen, “I mean, you two have been engaged since… let's see, he beat you in math back at the academy?”
“It was merely an arranged marriage, if anything,” she crossed her legs then shuffled her position to pull out a cigarette from her black leather jacket. “Lila is the one that will most likely swear vengeance, only to open her legs to the next passable gent in the room.”
“Seriously? Nothing?” Trident asked as though her coldness awed him.
Virginia blew smoke from her lit cig to her brother, who scowled in response.
“Dent, that day, I had a fever when sitting for the exam. But to fath-, I mean to the grand duke,” she corrected, “It was an impossible event, and thus I was forced into marriage all because I missed one question.”
“Now, academically, you were not a top performer.”
“Hey!!”
She paused, then sucked the cigarette pressed between her lips and seconds later, she blew the pooled smoke away from their position.
“So I don’t expect you to understand how I felt.”
It wasn’t exactly that she had any strong feelings towards opposing the marriage. On the contrary, she genuinely did not care who her partner was; however, being called a failure because of missing a question was downright preposterous.
Especially coming from the one person she wished to impress, but clearly, only failure made him look her way.
In any case, the grand duke of Nissa, or by an even lesser-used title, their father, used the opportunity to wed her to Kassim, the man she had lost to, a man that had cheated on that paper.
Though it was paraded that their engagement was political, it was to teach her a lesson because she nearly lost to a commoner, and if Kassim hadn't cheated, then the commoner by the name Leeroy would have defeated her, not in the subject but overall because of the slight difference in their grades.
“Felt? You have feelings?” her brother teased.
“Every day, Dent, every day I wonder how your love still goes unrequited. What with your clearly superior understanding-”
“Ah, are you mocking me because I am actually a person who can feel love?” he asked, interrupting. “Because to you and father, an emotional person is-,”
“Attempted kidnapping, blackmail, larceny-,”
“So? All that simply means that I am a passionate lover.”
“Or…or hear me out,” she said, then inhaled sharply from her cigarette, letting the amber glow devour a great deal of its contents. She exhaled the thick white smoke slowly then proceeded with the rest of her sentence, “you just can't take a hint.”
“Hah!” Trident scoffed, but he was at a loss for a proper defence, so to buy time, he snatched the cigarette she seemed to enjoy, then snuffed its embers on the mahogany bar table, “well, at least my lover isn’t dead.”
Virginia stared at her brother, younger by a year but the difference in their understanding was noticeable.
“Okay.” She said simply, then stood from her seat.
Their relationship was tense as they hardly ever saw eye to eye, so she did not feel it her place to explain that Noella Fiosal Alistan was in no way interested in him and that all his childish tactics will do is make her loathe him.
Plus, he would automatically be removed from being the Heir if he did cause further strain between the east and western territories. So, win-win.
Without another word, Virginia turned to head back to her room when Trident grabbed the sleeve of her jacket.
“If you tell Father about Noella, I will tell him about your smoking.” He threatened.
In mock surrender, she raised her hands in the air.
“You have my hands tied.” She retorted, smiling, and he let go of her coat.
A melodiously short tune rang through the two speakers on the walls of the lounge.
‘Attention’
We are now arriving at Mayflower central station.’
‘Attention’
We are now arriving at Mayflower central station.’
‘All passengers have four hours to alight the train.’
‘All passengers have four hours to alight the train.’
“I better get those bastards to grab my things,” Trident muttered.
“Why? We have slaves in the back?”
“But it's so much better to have them do it.”
“Oh, Dent, your insecurity…its leaking.” She teased.
“Oh shut up, I am way better than them!”
“Of course you are.” She replied easily, then watched him leave through the other side of the door to where the lower nobles were.
*
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*
Azalea Oleander Cursix
The entire estate bowed at my arrival back to the castle. Despite their best attempts at wanting to give me a respectful welcome, the decorations were all over the place, showing that they were in the middle of preparing for the banquet.
“As you were,” I said quickly, and the confused lined up staff stood from bowing and rather than revert to their work, they gazed at each other as though seeking a second opinion because they doubted what they heard.
“Chop chop!” Mathews roared, clapping his hands to garner their attention, and though their movements were stiff, eventually, they were all back to their working stations.
I turned to Raiser, who stood silently beside me.
“So Darius Ferlo is the vice-captain of the imperial knights, while Luke Ornix was vice-captain of the knights?”
“Yes.” He said.
Basically, the imperial knights had white uniforms and were bound to the imperial family. They could be gifted to another, but they had to give their permission. They were permitted to pursue their own adventures, but their home was within castle walls at the end of the day.
However, the ordinary knights were not bound and were therefore used as militia. They could be gifted to another without their approval. Though some had homes behind castle walls, apart from the first division, which comprised of six members, the rest were interchangeable with any knight stationed in their official stations around whichever territory.
The other differences lay in fame, wealth, quests and strength.
“Tell me the difference. Assume that I am an investor and knighthood a business I know nothing about yet still possess the potential to change its core,” I said as we began walking down the beautiful path to the steps that led to the palace entrance. “Go.”
“Uh- the-the-,” he fumbled as he tried to catch up to my though smaller, faster steps.
“Not a good start, Gidion.” I teased, “Do you wish me to slow down?”
“N-no,” he responded, then cleared his throat.
“The key difference between the two groups is strength, the imperial knights are almost twice as strong as the regular military knights, but we are few.”
“I see.” I said, “What about prestige?”
“That too, however, most strong knights do not seek prestige.”
“Is that really true?”
“P-perhaps for me.” he cleared his throat, “However, including me, there are only three commoners in the imperial knights, because of umm….”
“Because of…?” I quirked my brow, “Is this how you speak to a potential investor?”
“I would have taken my business elsewhere by now.”
“Because the administrators for the knight exams were…co-commoners.” He finished.
-Ah-
“I- I mean there are some noble, ordinary knights bu-,”
“Are the noble imperial knights strong?”
“Yes, they are.” He answered with certainty.
“But there is a chance that some commoners are stronger than they.”
“Yes.” He responded slowly.
“What a mess,” I muttered.
I was almost at the steps to the entrance when I felt a familiar aura in the atmosphere, halting me in my steps.
On turning, I noticed a well-built man dressed in worn-out yellow overalls pulling a beige tarp over a large tree?
No…
It was a trimmed large bush whose roots were still in its pot. However, the topiary portrayed a woman seated and dressed in a simple garment, a bitter expression on her face as she played the violoncello.
The woman looked so breathtakingly beautiful and lifelike that for a second, I almost forgot how to breathe.
-Azalea-
“I am telling you, old man, carving the stone part for the base will take at-,” the man stopped talking when his gaze met mine, and he dropped to his knee.
- Writer
